1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a scanning device, and more particularly, to a scanning device which can scan a document with relatively short warm up time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical scanning devices, or devices which include optical scanning components, are widely used by businesses and personal users for scanning and transmitting documents and other information. Such scanning devices may electronically or optically scan the document. The scanning device may then provide a copy in the manner of a standard copier, or provide an electronic version of the document that can be further processed or manipulated. For example, the electronic version of the scanned document may be printed, sent via a facsimile transmission, exported or sent to a network or computer, etc.
Many existing scanning devices utilize a lamp to direct light at the document to be scanned, and the light reflected by the document is then utilized to create a scan or copy of the document. However, most lamps, when not having been used for a period of time, require a warm-up time until the lamp reaches a state at which the lamp can provide an output sufficient to provide scans or copies. Thus, in many scanning devices, when the lamp is cold or is not sufficiently warmed up, a user must wait for the lamp to warm up before making a scan or copy. The warm up time can last from several seconds up to several minutes, which results in wasted time. Many prior art attempts to address this issue have focused upon speeding up the warm up time of the lamp, which has proved to be unsatisfactory.
Accordingly, there is a need for a scanning device which can provide scans or copies while reducing any waiting time for the lamp to warm up.